Risk to children ‘vanishingly small’

[TeddyIsaHe]

Great article in the Guardian that I hope will put some people’s minds at ease a little before the return to school.

The largest study of children and young people that has been conducted since the beginning of the covid crisis.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/28/vanishingly-small-risk-of-death-or-severe-illness-for-children-from-covid

BMJ study: www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3249

Interesting read, i’ve just added the same link, interesting obese children and Asian children have a higher risk. All the children that have died had serious health issues it said in the report.

Most of us are concerned not only about the health of our children but also the adults who care for them. Teachers, support staff, parents and grandparents.

Yes fair enough, I don’t think this thread is saying it’s not worrying for parents and teachers but it’s good to know there is a tiny risk to children

@GalOopNorth

Most of us are concerned not only about the health of our children but also the adults who care for them. Teachers, support staff, parents and grandparents.

Yes of course. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of data in regards to children spreading to older family members/teachers etc yet as the majority haven’t been in school (not including Scotland).

Sometimes you do need to see the positives in a bad situation.

Very reassuring thank you

Thanks for this. I get that people are concerned about the kids catching it, being asymptomatic and giving it to adults,but do they not think that labelling the kids "superspreaders" and putting that kind of crap on them is going to harm them more than the adult if they get Covid?

The article is reassuring that children are ok if they get Covid. Maybe a little bit more of a concern if they’re obese or ethnic minority. Personally I’m not concerned about my children returning to school because they may get it, I am more concerned about the linking of households that otherwise wouldn’t meet and the teaching staff. Elderly grandparents live with us, up until the re-opening of schools we have been very careful about what we do, where we go and who we meet, I am very concerned the children will bring it home with them. As I said on another thread I think the approach the Italian government is taking is so much better than ours. That requires money and investment in education something no government truly does in this country.

I think we're all on message about this now: the sane piece of news has been repeated three times in the last week, but the glaring elephant in the room is whether school openings raise community transmission, therefore putting pressure on the nhs at a time when it really needs to look more normal than it currently does. As well as making local lockdowns more likely which are crippling for businesses, and difficult for working parents.

I think we need to take the positive from this, of course, but as a community I think I'd feel safer if cases were lower - not for myself or my children, as we are low risk, but for the others I don't know and the knock on effect it will have.

It pisses me off a bit that the message we are hearing, "your kids will be all right, so why are you worried?" assumes we are all looking for selfish reassurance that "we're all right then Jack". We never needed more to act as a whole community. We depend on each other.

Risk to healthy children v v v v small, risk to children of ethnic background and obese, greater, risk to children who were told to shield probably much much higher but unknown as they were Totally shielded. Given that schools are not required to put special measure in place for these children I would be very concerned for their health - personally I have a ds who was shielded is end of August born and just left yr 13 boy and I glad he wasn't born 36 hrs later and going back into a secondary school!! Risk to previously shielding adults and highly vulnerable adults who have children returning to school probably pretty high, risk to the R rate and healthy adults - unknown as we do not know what proportion of healthy adults get long covid or long term affects of covid.

OP you get flamed on here for even suggesting that children are relatively safe from covid. Its all about the adults that the little germ infesters are going to potentially kill.
Your not allowed to say children are mostly risk free its on par with denouncing God.

do they not think that labelling the kids "superspreaders" and putting that kind of crap on them

We're all potentially superspreaders in a packed, underfunded environment though aren't we. It needs to be said although not in the unkind way you propose. Would you rather just let the outbreaks in the near factories carry on without analysis because it's mean to say the workers are spreading it in the conditions they're in?

For gods sake why can't we have one thread that doesn't turn into school doom!?!

Because, fail to prepare, prepare to fail etc. The news we need to pay attention to this morning is the "ministers are considering 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off for secondaries". They've buried it in the good news but we in the trade know what to look for so we can plan!

@Jrobhatch29

But this thread isn't about schools. Go and post that doom on one of the thousands or school threads. This is just a thread to say isn't it good children are at such low risk!!

Interestingly the symptoms the children displayed included: fever, cough, nausea or vomiting and shortness of breath.
Older children were more likely to have stomach pain, headache and a sore throat. This should be looked at further. Maybe children need a different set of symptoms than adults. All of the above symptoms have been added to the form i had to sign when I went to my dentist two weeks ago before they saw me and are also on the form I sign electronically every time my DS (who’s 13) plays a football match.

@Jrobhatch29 well said it was nothing to do with schools or adults or teachers, it was about how little this virus effects children, even the higher risks are far lower than adults, why does it always turn into a thread about adults 🙄

Why does it always turn into a thread about adults

Because no one cares about children and how they have been affected by lockdown or what impact it may have on their future. Children's needs have been at the very bottom of the priority list

@Alex50 @Jrobhatch29

It's really great that children are not badly affected. I've been very glad to hear this every time a similar study concludes the same thing.

I'll reserve my right to add whatever I damn well please to any discussion here.

No ones needs are served by more lockdowns, are they? Children or adults. I'm desperate to keep the schools open as a parent and teacher, I'm just pointing out the bloody obvious as far as I can see!

@Jrobhatch29 exactly. It is good news to reassure parents about the risk to their children. It is good news for those of us putting children in nursery where social distancing is very difficult. For those wanting to attend baby and toddler groups- to be reassured that the risk, should they pick it up, is small. I’m about to go back to work in healthcare, yes I will have PPE but that doesn’t eliminate the risk of me catching it and bringing it home. It is good to know that should that happen the risk to my son is low.

The symptoms are interesting. I don't know if my kids have had covid but they were off two weeks before lockdown and their school closed a week before they officially closed due to high absense. One had a fever for a few days and a cough for 2 weeks. The other had a day of nausea and wouldn't eat so it fits the symptoms listed above but no way of knowing

Most people's concern regarding healthy children is not them catching covid and dying from it but catching it and spreading it to vulnerable children and adults who are likely to die from it. So this is not reassuring "evidence" for returning to normal school next week full time. Sorry!

I think that has been known all along.

Only a handful of previously healthy DC will die (doesn't it sound heartless though -for those few are still real children) and small-ish numbers will be very ill or have long-term/permanent consequences (rising as DC pass thought puberty)

The risk is not really to the children. It's from the children to their household, teachers and anyone else they come into contact with.

And a proportion of those people will be vulnerable (by age, pregnancy or medical condition) or extremely vulnerable (medical condition). A reminder that the DC are overwhelmingly likely to be OK does not remove the risks that concern people

For gods sake why can't we have one thread that doesn't turn into school doom!?!

It might ease off when the teachers are back at school. I hope, anyway, it’s an important issue but not the only issue.

I did find this a reassuring read, thanks for the link OP.

Thanks for posting this. Reassuring to read! Need every bit of positivity we can get at the mo and out children being low risk is certainly something to cling on to.